Part of the reason so many areas in the county are incorporating as cities is to do exactly what Elk Grove is doing here, determine their own destiny in light of their own interests because they didn’t feel that was happening for them as part of the county.
Editorial: How far south?
Elk Grove must define ultimate boundary
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, January 24, 2007
In 1993, Sacramento County supervisors drew a line on a map near Elk Grove and agreed that growth would not happen south of that line. Known as an "urban limit line," the boundary followed the path of Kammerer Road. Then in 2000, Elk Grove became a city. Its leaders and planners made no secret that they didn't think much of this line as a planning tool. So decision by decision, they began erasing it.
Tonight the Elk Grove City Council is expected to leap past that line by launching a public brainstorming process on how eventually to annex and manage (as in develop) the swath of county south of Kammerer Road and north of the Cosumnes River. The process raises more questions than it answers, which is its basic problem.
Where will the growth stop? Will there ever be a permanent agriculture/open space greenbelt between Elk Grove and Galt to the south? If so, where does the greenbelt begin and end? How is the agreement formalized between the two cities?
Those questions have been important since Elk Grove in its first growth vision, its general plan, abandoned the long-standing urban limit line along Kammerer Road.
Elk Grove's planning staff is not proposing to answer any of those questions as they begin growth discussions south of Kammerer. Here are the planning questions, based on the staff report for tonight's meeting, they intend to address: "Who should be involved? What area is appropriate for habitat and open space preservation and for development? What is the best land-use plan for the area? How can the city working with other stakeholders accomplish this planning effort?" (Here's another important question: What is the flood risk from the Cosumnes River? An updated flood analysis is essential.)
